Method and System of Knowledge Component Based Engineering Design

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an engineering design method and a system of implementing same. In one embodiment, the method includes a construction process of knowledge components and a design process based on the knowledge components. The knowledge components pack universal modules in the standard forms. Accordingly, the knowledge components are independent from design layouts or design processes of products, and reusable in different projects and platforms. The design process integrates a variety of software platforms via an uniform environment and calls the knowledge components to complete the engineering designs. Further, the design process defines a data relation and an execution relation of the knowledge components and establishes a relationship between the knowledge components without programming. The universal module comprises at least operations, methods, rules and/or flows of an engineering design process and engineering analysis process.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Chinese patent application No.200810225954.7, filed Nov. 7, 2008, entitled “An Engineering DesignMethod Based on Knowledge Components”, by Yi-Zhang Li et al., which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a computer aided integratingdesign method, and more particularly, to a method that utilizesknowledge components and data relations and an execution relations ofthe knowledge components to perform integrated engineering designs, anda system of implementing same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a traditional design process, usually, engineers draw a preliminarydesign of a product in accordance with experiences, make a physicalprototype based on the preliminary design, and then carry outcharacteristics tests or analysis on the physical prototype so as toobtain the characteristics data of the product. If these data do notmeet the requirements or specifications of the product, the engineersmodify the preliminary design accordingly, produce the trial products,and then test or analyze the trial products. These procedures arerepeated until the product meets the desired performance requirements.For a complicated product, the whole design cycle may be very long andit may be very difficult to ensure the design quality during the longdesign cycle.

With the constantly development of technologies, new design methods andtechnologies have been emerged. For example, a computer graphictechnology, a computer modeling technology, a computer analysis andsimulation technology, and so on, have been applied in the engineeringdesign. A serial of CAX tools has been developed based on thesetechnologies. Using these methods, technologies and tools, engineers areable to establish a digitalized model of a product with no need of aphysical prototype, analyze a variety of performances of the productbased on the digitalized model, inspect and optimize the design of theproduct, and even analyze the manufacturability thereof, thereby greatlyreducing the design costs and design cycle.

However, a product design usually involves multiple fields and multipledisciplines, and needs the support of a large number of special tools.Though these methods, technologies and tools may improve theefficiencies of design integration, yet these tools with differentorigins have different concepts, languages, technologies, data formatsand use styles, and are independently used and isolated from each otherin the design process, where a large number of manual operations arestill needed to link up a variety of design process, thereby resultingin the low efficiency of designs. Furthermore, the models and data ofdifferent design processes are irrelevant, the corresponding designscheme is unchangeable. Accordingly, the efficiency of a design, ananalysis and an optimization is still very low.

Additionally, problems to be resolved in nowadays product design aregetting more and more complex, and tools used in the product design havemore and more functions, thus, engineers/designers need to spend a vastamount of time and energy to understand them. Furthermore, since theoperation process, knowledge, experiences and methods in the designprocess are not reusable and shared in new design projects, even in thesimilar design projects, the engineers/designers need to start over fromscratch. This may result in the operational tools overloaded.

Moreover, a variety of engineering software extensively use a “hard”connection method to achieve the tool integration. The so called ‘hard’connection refers to develop a special data transformation andprocessing module between the tools for transferring the data, andconnect the tools via a plurality of data processing modules. The methodhas the advantages: the efficiency is very high for the special designflow or the design layout, and the matching and coordination of avariety of special data and modules is good. However, the flexibilityand extendibility of the system are not good. Once the design flow ordesign layout changes, many intermittent data processing programs areneed to be rewritten. It is also very difficult to upgrade and expandthe system.

For the reuse of design knowledge and design processes, the usualpractice is: carrying out the secondary development on the tool softwarein accordance with the requirements of the special users, integratingthe specialty knowledge, the experiences of experts, design methods ordesign standards into the functional modules, then improving theefficiency of the tool to realize the reuse of the knowledge and designvia using these functional modules. However, this customized secondarydevelopment mode has strong specialty and the threshold is very high,the development period is longer without popularity for the engineers,and is also unable to easily carry out function expansion and systemmaintenance.

Briefly, the conventional computer-aided integrated design methods arestill unable to resolve the following problems comprehensively: avariety of tools are not integratable in the design processes, the lowlevel repeated workload of designers are heavy, and the mutualindependent links and incompact data and modules relations leads toheavy workload of the coordination and modification of designs.Therefore, it is difficult to achieve the rapid design iteration andoptimization. Additionally, a variety of design and analysis tools isstill operated in a traditional way. Its operation is very complex andhighly relies on the user's experiences. The knowledge and experiencesof using the tools can not be reused and shared in different projects.The design efficiency is usually very low.

Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to addressthe aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, in present invention relates to a method of anengineering design. In one embodiment, the method includes the step ofconstructing a plurality of knowledge components. Each knowledgecomponent comprises one or more universal modules, Each universal modulecomprises at least operations, procedures, rules and flows of acorresponding engineering design process. In one embodiment, eachuniversal module includes basic operations of file parsing, expressionoperations, command executions, script executions, computer-aided design(CAD) operations, computer-aided engineering (CAE) operations, databaseoperations and report generations in a corresponding engineering designand analysis process. In one embodiment, each knowledge component isconstructed to have a data interface having input and output ports, acontrol interface for defining a logical control relation between theknowledge component and the upstream and downstream knowledge componentsthereof, a human-computer interactive interface for managing data inputand data output through the input and output ports of the datainterface, a message interface for receiving the external message andinformation, and a third party tool interface for accessing a thirdparty tool.

The method further comprises the step of defining a data relation and anexecution relation of the plurality of knowledge components so as tocorrelate the plurality of the knowledge components to each other toform a design process model without programming. The execution relationof the plurality of knowledge components comprises logical relations,data driving relations, time characteristics, message triggingmechanisms and any combination thereof. In one embodiment, when definingthe data relation of the plurality of knowledge components, a datamapping relation between the input and output ports of the plurality ofknowledge components is directly defined. When calling the plurality ofknowledge components, the data relation and the execution relation ofthe plurality of knowledge components is automatically established basedon predefined rules. In one embodiment, the design process model isconfigured such that the knowledge components are addable, deletableand/or replaceable, the data relation and the execution relation of theknowledge components is modifiable, and the control data of theknowledge components is modifiable, so that the design process model ispartially or fully executable. Further, the design process model isconfigured such that in operation, the human-computer interactiveinterfaces of the plurality of knowledge components are popped up in apredefined order according to the execution relation of the plurality ofknowledge components so as to lead a designer to complete design andanalysis work. In one embodiment, the data of the design process modelis automatically modifiable in accordance with the predefined rules. Inoperation, modifying the data of the design process model triggers thedesign process model to be partially or fully executed, and themodifying process is repeated until optimized design results areobtained.

Additionally, the method also includes the step of integrating a varietyof software platforms via an uniform environment so as to call theplurality of knowledge components of the design process model to performan engineering design.

Furthermore, the method comprises the step of packing two or moreknowledge components and the data relation and the execution relationthereof into a parent knowledge component without programming. Theknowledge components packed in the parent knowledge component isreplaceable when the parent knowledge component is called in anengineering design and analysis process.

The method further comprises the steps of establishing a database forstoring having instructions, design regulations, design experiences andselected knowledge, and establishing a relationship between theplurality of knowledge components and the database so as toautomatically display the associated knowledge when a knowledgecomponent is used.

In another aspect, the present invention relates to a system of anengineering design. In one embodiment, the system has a knowledgepacking module for constructing a plurality of knowledge components in apredefined form. Each knowledge component comprises one or moreuniversal modules. Each universal module comprises at least operations,procedures, rules and flows of a corresponding engineering designprocess. In one embodiment, each universal module includes basicoperations of file parsing, expression operations, command executions,script executions, CAD operations, CAE operations, database operationsand report generations in a corresponding engineering design andanalysis process. In one embodiment, each knowledge component isconstructed to have a data interface having input and output ports, acontrol interface for defining a logical control relation between theknowledge component and the upstream and downstream knowledge componentsthereof, a human-computer interactive interface for managing data inputand data output through the input and output ports of the datainterface, a message interface for receiving the external message andinformation, and a third party tool interface for accessing a thirdparty tool.

The system further have a human-computer interface module for defining ahuman-computer interactive interface for each knowledge componentthrough which a user is able to control internal processes of theknowledge component, a data definition module for defining data inputand output ports for each knowledge component, a data mapping definitionmodule for defining a data mapping relation between the data input andoutput ports of the plurality of knowledge components, a flow definitionmodule for defining a control logical relation for operations,procedures, rules and flows of each knowledge component, an executionand monitoring module for calling the plurality of knowledge componentsto perform an engineering design and monitoring the status of theengineering design, and a third party tool integration module forintegrating third party tools at least with the execution and monitoringmodule to call the third party tools when performing the engineeringdesign

The system also has a knowledge component database for storing theplurality of knowledge components and a knowledge information databasefor storing instructions, design specifications and design experiencesassociated with the plurality of knowledge components.

In an alternative aspect, the present invention relates to anengineering design method based on a plurality of knowledge components.In one embodiment, the method includes a construction process of aplurality of knowledge components and a design process based on theplurality of knowledge components. The knowledge components is adaptedfor packing the universal module in the standard form. Accordingly, theknowledge components are independent from design layouts or designprocesses of products, and usable in different projects, time andplatforms. The design process integrates a variety of software platformsvia an uniform environment and calls the knowledge components tocomplete the engineering designs. The design process includes designing,modeling, analyzing and data processing.

In one embodiment, the design process defines the data relation and theexecution relation between the knowledge components and establishes therelationship of the knowledge components, thereby forming the designprocess model without programming.

In one embodiment, the universal module comprises operations, methods,rules and/or flows of an engineering design process and engineeringanalysis process. The universal module may also include the fileparsing, the expression operation, the command execution, the scriptexecution, the CAD operation, the CAE operation, the database operation,the report generation and the other basic operations of the engineeringdesign process and engineering analysis process.

In one embodiment, each knowledge component has data input/output portsand a human-computer interaction interface.

The construction process of the knowledge component further comprises:packaging a plurality of internal knowledge components and the datarelation and the execution relation thereof into a parent knowledgecomponents without programming. When calling the parent knowledgecomponents in the design process, the knowledge components packed can bereplaced.

The engineering method may also comprise the following process:establishing a database comprising instructions, design regulations,design experiences and other knowledge, and establishing therelationship between the knowledge components and the database. Theassociated knowledge may be automatically displayed when using theknowledge components.

When defining the data relation between the knowledge components in thedesign process, the data mapping relation between the ports of theknowledge components can be directly defined. In one embodiment, whencalling the knowledge components, the data relation of the knowledgecomponents may also be automatically established in accordance with thepredefined rules.

The execution relation between the knowledge components may define thelogical relation, the data driving relation, the time characteristics,the message trigging mechanism or one combination relation thereof inthe execution of the knowledge components. When calling the knowledgecomponents, the execution relation of the knowledge components mayautomatically generate in accordance with the predefined rules.

In the design process, the design process module may be packed into theknowledge components as the universal module.

The design process may lead the designers to complete the designanalysis work in accordance with the scheduled steps through theexecution of a knowledge component.

When the design modification is needed during the design process, theknowledge components in the design process model may be added, deletedand/or replaced, the data relation and the execution relation of thedesign process model may be modified, and the control data of theknowledge components of the design process model may also be modifiedand then the design process model may be partly or fully executed.

The control data of the design process model may be automaticallymodified in accordance with the predefined rules then the parts of andfull design process model may be automatically executed, repeating likethis until the needed design results are obtained.

In one embodiment, the method of the present invention comprises twosteps: establishing the knowledge components and carrying out the designbased on the knowledge components.

Through analyzing the operations, methods, rules and/or flows of theengineering design process and analysis process, one can classify theminto a plurality of standard process, define the implementation methods,data interfaces and human-computer interfaces of these standardprocesses, and then packs these standard processes into the knowledgecomponents in a standard form. The knowledge components are used forcompleting a certain work which may have data input/output ports andhuman-computer interaction interfaces. As the knowledge components packthe operation processes, the using methods, the design rules and thedesign flows of the design analysis tools, engineers/designers can inputcontrol data via the human-computer interfaces. The specific and fussyoperations and the processing procedures may be completed by theknowledge components. Therefore, on one hand, it abates the workload ofthe designers thereby improving the work efficiency. On the other hand,the difficulty of using the tools is greatly reduced with no need ofgrasping the detailed operation details of the tools. Thus, thedesigners can focus more on the design itself. More importantly, theknowledge components realize the formalization of design and analysisknowledge thereby accumulates, shares and reuses the design and analysisknowledge in different design projects.

In one embodiment, the knowledge components are used to complete thedesign, modeling, analysis and data processing and other work of avariety links through a uniform environment. Meanwhile, the datarelation and the execution relation of these knowledge components aredefined to establish the relationship of these knowledge componentswithout programming, thereby concurrently forming a design processmodel. The programming is not needed since each component has a standardform. The work style of defining data relation without programminggreatly abates the traditional workload of manually connecting the dataflow, and is convenient to carry out the connection of a variety ofdifferent ways, thereby achieving the high flexible modular design. Yetthe execution relation of the knowledge components records a designcourse and a logic. Through the relation, the design analysis processcan be replayed/redone. Alternatively, the association modification ofthe design data can be realized.

In one embodiment, the design process model is formed concurrently whenselecting different knowledge components in accordance with thedifferent products and dynamically defining the relationship in thedesign process without prefixing. Thus, it not only allows the extremeflexibility of the design process, but also realizes the traceabilityand repeatability in the design process.

In one embodiment of the present invention, basic and universaloperation processes, such as the file parse, the expression operation,the command execution, the script execution, the CAD operation, the CAEoperation, the database operation, the report generation, and so on inthe engineering design analysis process are packed into one or moreknowledge components, respectively. They constitute the componentcollection with the smallest granularity and complete functions in avariety of design analysis processes.

In another embodiment, a plurality of knowledge components, the datarelation and execution relation thereof are packed into a parentknowledge component without programming. The parent knowledge componentis adapted for performing complex design analysis functions. Because ofno need of programming, a third party can also establish/create suchknowledge components. When using the parent knowledge components, theinternal knowledge components packed inside the parent knowledgecomponent can be selectively replaced by the same type of the knowledgecomponents and the internal data relation and the execution relation canbe re-established through certain rules or a manual mode.

In yet another embodiment, a database having instructions, designregulations, design experiences and other knowledge is created, and therelationship between the knowledge components and database contents isestablished. When selecting the knowledge components, the operationalhuman-computer interfaces, the data relation execution relation and therelated knowledge can be automatically displayed.

In an alternative embodiment, in defining the data relation of theknowledge components, the data mapping relation between the data portsof the knowledge components is directly defined.

In a further embodiment, when using the knowledge components, the datarelation between the knowledge components is automatically establishedon the basis of the predefined rules. For example, automaticallyestablishes the data relation between the knowledge components on thebasis of the rule that a data flow is formed under the circumstance ofthe coincidence of the name and the class.

In yet a further embodiment, the execution relation between theknowledge components defines the logical relation, the data drivingrelation, the time characteristics, the message trigging mechanism andany combination relation thereof in executing the knowledge components.The logical relation comprises a serial, a parallel and a branchrelation, and specifies the logical conditions in the execution of theknowledge components. When the data relation exists between theknowledge components, the data conditions in the execution of theknowledge components can be defined through the data driving relation.For example, the knowledge components can not be executed until theupstream data changes. The time characteristics defines the timeconditions of the execution of the knowledge components. The messagetrigging mechanism regulates the random event conditions in theexecution of the knowledge components. When a certain random eventoccurs, the knowledge components receive the message of the event. Thiswill be a necessary condition of starting execution. The four relationscan be combined randomly to define the conditions of the startingexecution of the knowledge components, and the logical relation thereof.

In one embodiment, when using the knowledge components, the executionrelation of the knowledge components is automatically generated on thebasis of the predefined rules. For example, the logical executionrelation of a variety of types of knowledge components is predefined,when using the knowledge components, the execution relation with theother knowledge components is automatically established.

In another embodiment, after the establishment of the design processmodel via the knowledge components, the design process model can bepublished as a knowledge component, and the data input/output ports andhuman-computer interfaces of the knowledge components can be customized,thereby accumulating, managing and reusing the successful designprocess.

In a further embodiment, once the design process is successfullycompleted and the design process model is created, the design processmodel can be selected and executed again. This ensures the designers togradually set the control parameters of all the links in accordance withthe scheduled steps until complete the design and analysis work whencarrying out the similar design. In this way, not only the workefficiency of the similar designs can be greatly improved, but also thedifficulty of studying and developing the design work for beginners canbe reduced, and the design process can be regulated by reusing thesuccessful design process.

In yet a further embodiment, since the design process model is generatedconcurrently with the design process, when the design scheme is neededto be modified, the knowledge components of the design process model canbe added, deleted or replaced, the data relation and the executionrelation of the design process model can be modified, and the controldata of the knowledge components of the design process model can also bemodified. Accordingly, the design process model can be partially andfully executed to complete the design modification, thereby avoiding thelarge number of repeated work in the design modification process, andgreatly improving the efficiency of the design modification andaccelerating the design iteration process.

In an alternative embodiment, the control data of the knowledgecomponents of the design process model is automatically modified by acertain of optimized algorithms in accordance with the predefined rules(e.g., in accordance with some output data in the design process model),and then partial of and full design process models is automaticallyexecuted. Repeating these processes until the required design resultsare obtained. This method ensures that the formed design process modelcan be used immediately to optimize the design after completing a designprocess.

Among other things, the method of present invention has the followingtechnical advantages.

The traditional engineering design methods have the shortcomings ofneglecting collecting, analyzing and reusing of the design methods.However, according the present invention, the prior design knowledge andexperiences are effectively packed into the knowledge components, sothat they can be standardized, shared and re-used in other similardesign projects.

Additionally, in the traditional engineering design, a vast amount ofdesign links/connections are connected manually. According to thepresent invention, the workload of the data flow process is greatlyabated and the high flexible module design is realized through thestandardization of the data ports and defining the data relation of theknowledge components without programming. Aiming at the problem ofdifficulty of traditional design modification and low efficiency ofdesign iteration, the fast design modification and design iteration isrealized through concurrently establishing the design process model andmodifying and executing the design process model in the design process.

Aiming at the shortcomings of the lack of guidance and the poorregulation in the traditional design process, via reusing the designprocess model and the associated knowledge library, the design of theknowledge guidance is realized to improve the work efficiency, lower thethreshold and regulate the design process.

Aiming at the problem of tools loosing, non-systematical and difficultof management in the design process at present, the use of tool becomesconsiderably convenient through the integrated design, the analysis andthe data processing and other works in the uniform environments.

Aiming at the problem of the need of the special development expandingthe function of a variety of tools at present, the method can customizeand increase new knowledge components without programming therebyensures the designers to expand functions voluntarily. Aiming at theshortcomings of not being suitable for the variable design processes ofthe integration technology at present, the present invention realizesthe extreme flexibility of the design process through selectingdifferent knowledge components in the design process and dynamicallydefining data relation and the execution relation without programmingthereby can carry out the design of different types of products.

These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following description of the preferred embodiment taken inconjunction with the following drawings, although variations andmodifications therein may be affected without departing from the spiritand scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate one or more embodiments of theinvention and, together with the written description, serve to explainthe principles of the invention. Wherever possible, the same referencenumbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or likeelements of an embodiment, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows schematically an integrated engineering design systemaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows schematically a knowledge component utilized in the systemshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows schematically a data relation between knowledge componentsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows schematically a data flow for automatically establishing adata relation (data mapping) between knowledge components A and Baccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows schematically an execution relation between the knowledgecomponents according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows schematically a parent knowledge component according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows schematically an execution engine according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows schematically knowledge components and processes in adesign and the analysis of a wing box structure of a plane;

FIG. 9A is a human-computer interactive interface of two dimension skinknowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 9B is a human-computer interactive interface of two dimension wingspar knowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 9C is a human-computer interactive interface of two dimension wingrib knowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 9D is a human-computer interactive interface of two dimensionstringer knowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 10 is a structure layout model using the two dimension layoutknowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 11A is a human-computer interactive interface of three dimensionskin knowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 11B is a human-computer interactive interface of three dimensionwing spar knowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 11C is a human-computer interactive interface of three dimensionwing rib knowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 11D is a human-computer interactive interface of three dimensionstringer knowledge components in the wing box design of the plane;

FIG. 12 is a structural three dimension model established by the threedimension structural knowledge components in the wing box design of theplane;

FIG. 13 shows a strength analysis process in the wing box design of theplane; and

FIG. 14 is a strength distribution cloud chart in the wing box design ofthe plane.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is more particularly described in the followingexamples that are intended as illustrative only since numerousmodifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilledin the art. Various embodiments of the invention are now described indetail. Referring to the drawings, like numbers indicate like componentsthroughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughoutthe claims that follow, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includesplural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, asused in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow,the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. Additionally, some terms used in this specificationare more specifically defined below.

The description will be made as to the embodiments of the presentinvention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in FIGS. 1-14.In accordance with the purposes of this invention, as embodied andbroadly described herein, this invention, in one aspect, relates to amethod that utilizes knowledge components and data relations and anexecution relations of the knowledge components to perform integratedengineering designs, and a system of implementing same.

Referring to FIG. 1, an integrated engineering design system 100 isshown according to one embodiment of the present invention. The systemincludes a human-computer interface module 110, a data definition module120, a knowledge packing module 130, a flow definition module 140, adata mapping definition module 150, a third party tool integrationmodule 160, an execution and monitoring module 170, a knowledgecomponent database 180 and a knowledge information database 190.

In one embodiment, the data definition module 120 is used to define datainput and outputs port of each knowledge component and all the relateddata collection.

The human-computer interface module 110 is adapted for defining one ormore human-computer interactive interfaces of the knowledge componentsso as to ensures that users can control the internal process of theknowledge components through the interactive interfaced. Alternative,the human-computer interface module 110 is adapted for defining ahuman-computer interactive interface for each knowledge component.Through the human-computer interactive interface, users are able tocontrol internal processes of the knowledge component.

The knowledge packing module 130 is adapted for packing the designmethods, the design experiences and other knowledge, i.e., constructinga plurality of knowledge components in a predefined form. The predefinedform can be a standard form. Each knowledge component packs one or moreuniversal modules. Each universal module comprises at least operations,procedures, rules and flows of a corresponding engineering designprocess. In one embodiment, each universal module includes basicoperations that include file parsing, expression operations, commandexecutions, script executions, CAD operations, CAE operations, databaseoperations, report generations and the like, in a correspondingengineering design and analysis process. Some of the basic operationsand others are listed in Table 1.

The flow definition module 140 is used to define a control logicalrelation for operations, procedures, rules and flows of the knowledgecomponents, the operations and the methods inside the knowledgecomponents so as to form a design flow model.

The data mapping definition module 150 is adapted for defining the datamapping relation between the knowledge components, the operation and themethod inside the knowledge components, i.e., defining a data mappingrelation between the data input and output ports of the plurality ofknowledge components.

The execution and monitoring module 170 is adapted for calling theplurality of knowledge components to perform an engineering design andmonitoring the status of the engineering design.

The third party tool integration module 160 is adapted for integratingthird party tools at least with the execution and monitoring module tocall the third party tools when performing the engineering design. Thisis implemented in two integration processes. One is an external callprocess, by using the third party tool integration module 160, thesystem calls the third party tools through a command line or an accessinterface. The other is an internal embedded process, i.e., embeddingthe interface of the third party tools into the system to achieve humanand computer interactive operations.

The knowledge component database 180 is used to store all the relevantdata of the knowledge components, including the data input and outputports of the knowledge components, the human-computer interface data,the flow data and the data mapping relation, and so on.

The knowledge information database 190 stores the instructions, thedesign specifications, the design experiences and other informationassociated with the corresponding knowledge components.

FIG. 2 shows schematically a knowledge component 200 utilized in thesystem shown in FIG. 1. The knowledge component 200 includes a datainterface 210, a control interface 220, a human-computer interactiveinterface 230, a message interface 240 and a third party tool interface250. In one embodiment, the data interface 210 having data input andoutput ports is adapted for the data interaction of the knowledgecomponent 200 with an external environment/data. The external data canbe obtained through the data interface 210 of the knowledge component200. The internal data of the knowledge component 200 can be transferredto the external environments. The control interface 220 is adapted fordefining the logical control relation between the knowledge component200 and the upstream and downstream knowledge components thereof, whichare divided into a precursor control interface and a subsequence controlinterface. The precursor control interface is adapted for receiving thecontrol information of the upstream knowledge components, while thesubsequence control interface is adapted for sending the controlinformation to the downstream knowledge components. The human-computerinteractive interface 230 is adapted for managing data input and dataoutput through the data input and output ports of the data interface.The message interface 240 is adapted for receiving external messages andinformation. The third party tool interface 250 provides the interfacefor accessing third party tools.

Some fundamental and universal operations of the engineering design andanalysis process can be packed into the knowledge components used in thesystem shown in FIG. 1. The knowledge components constitute thecomponents collection with the smallest granularity/unit andcomprehensive functions which can complete the analysis process of avariety of equipments, as shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 A list of basic knowledge components. Serial Basic Knowledge No.Components Description 1 Mathematical functions pack a method in theform of mathematical formula 2 File parsing extract parameters fromand/or write parameters into the files 2.1 Text file extract parametersfrom and/or write parameters into the text file 2.2 Excel documentextract parameters from and/or write parameters into the Excel document2.3 Word document extract parameters from and/or write parameters intothe word document 3 Execution of command pack the executable procedurein the form of a command line 4 CAD operation pack operation proceduresof CAD 4.1 CAD model load CAD model to an assembly loading component 4.2CAD parameter extract or revise the parameter in CAD read-write model4.3 CAD parameter Replace parameters in CAD model replacement 5 CAEoperation pack operation procedures of CAE 5.1 Meshing generate a meshmodel in accordance with the input model 5.2 Material configure thematerial properties of an configuration analyzed model 5.3 Loadconfigure the load properties of an configuration analyzed model 5.4Boundary configure the boundary condition of an condition settinganalyzed model 5.5 Solver calling configure the solver for analysis 5.6Processing of the process the solving result results 6 DLL (dynamiclibrary) pack a method in the form of the method calling dynamic library7 Data format transferring provide transfers between different dataformats 8 Database provide the creation, inquiring, deletion, adding andother functions 9 Engineering algorithms provide packages of engineeringalgorithms, such as algorithms for optimization and approximation 10Scripts (VBScript, pack scripts JavaScript) 11 Report generation providegeneration method for all types of reports

Since the knowledge components are formed in a standardized form, theycan easily be combined into one another to implement complex functionsin the system shown in FIG. 1. The combination includes establishing thedata relation and the execution relation of the knowledge componentswith no need of programming.

FIG. 3 illustrates schematically the data relation between the knowledgecomponents according to one embodiment of the present invention. Becauseof the standardized data interfaces, the establishment of the datarelation is represented by the data mapping relation between the datainterfaces of the knowledge components. The mapping relation between thedata interfaces can be established in the form of graphics, with no needof programming. As shown in FIG. 3, the data mapping between theparameters y2 and y3 of the knowledge components A and the parameters x2and x3 of the knowledge component B, and the data mapping between theparameter y2 of the knowledge component A and the parameter x4 of theknowledge component C are established without programming, which formsthe data flow relation between the knowledge components A, B and C.According to the present invention, there is no need of programming forestablishing the data relations between the knowledge components, whichnot only greatly abates the workload of connecting the data flow, butalso is convenient for a variety of connections of the knowledgecomponents to realize the module design of high flexible. In theexemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 3, three knowledge components A, Band C are shown for the purpose of illustration only. It would beobvious to people skilled in the art that any number of the knowledgecomponents can be utilized to practice the present invention.

In addition, the data relation between the knowledge components mayautomatically be established in accordance with the predefined rules.For example, for a system having a plurality of knowledge components,based on the names and types of the input parameters of a firstknowledge component, the system can conduct a search in the remainingknowledge components to determine whether the names and types of theoutput parameters of one or more of the remaining knowledge componentsmatch the names and types of the input parameters of the first knowledgecomponent. If so, the data mapping is automatically established betweenthe first knowledge component and the one or more of the remainingknowledge components, thereby implementing the automatic establishmentof the data relation between the first knowledge component and the oneor more of the remaining knowledge components.

Referring to FIG. 4, a data flow for automatically establishing a datarelation (data mapping) between knowledge components A and B is shownaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. In this example,the data mapping is automatically established if data entitiescorresponding to the two parameters are identical. In FIG. 5, theknowledge component A establishes a CAD model, the parameters y1 thereofis referred to ‘Line. 1’ in the CAD model. The parameters y4 in theknowledge component B selects the element ‘Line. 1’ in the CAD modelthrough a pick-up operation. Since the two parameters are jointlyreferred to the same data entity (that is, the ‘Line. 1’), therefore,the data mapping of the parameters y1 and y4 is automaticallyestablished. Accordingly, the automatic establishment of the datarelation between the knowledge components A and the knowledge componentsB is realized.

FIG. 5 shows schematically an established execution relation between theknowledge components without programming according to one embodiment ofthe present invention. The control flow of the knowledge components isestablished through the transferring line linking between the controlinterfaces of the knowledge components. The parallel, branch anditeration control logic is established through the parallel, branch anditeration control nodes.

Additionally, the control logical relation between the knowledgecomponents can also automatically be established in accordance with thepredefined rules. In one embodiment, assuming that the control logicalrelation of different types of the knowledge components is predefined,when using the knowledge components, the control logical relation of theknowledge components is automatically established based on the types ofthe knowledge components. In another embodiment, the control logicalrelation of the knowledge components is automatically established inaccordance with the sequences that the users use the knowledgecomponents to complete the engineering design, analysis task.

By applying the process as set forth above, one can select someknowledge components in the system of FIG. 1 and define a data relationand execution relation thereof, then pack the knowledge components anddefined data relation and execution relation into a new knowledgecomponent, called as a parent knowledge component, without programming.

In one embodiment, the internal structure of the parent knowledgecomponent 600 is schematically shown in FIG. 6. The parent knowledgecomponent 600 includes a data interface 610, a control interface 620, ahuman-computer interactive interface 630, a message interface 640, athird party tool interface 650, a message registration center 645, aknowledge information index 670, a tool registration center 680 a timer690 and a plurality of knowledge components 660, which are configured tocommunicate with each other.

The human-computer interactive interface 630 includes a variety of typesof human-computer interactive controls. The data control is used toexpose the data of the parent knowledge component to users. The usersmay modify and check the data of the parent knowledge component 600 viathe data control. The message control may bind a certain message in themessage registration center. The users can trigger a message event viathe message control.

The message registration center 645 is configured to establish andmanage a variety of messages relating to the parent knowledge component600, and send the messages to the internal knowledge components 660which need to corresponds to these messages to trigger the correspondentactivities.

The knowledge information index 670 is configured to record the indexrelations of a number of activities of the parent knowledge component600 and the usage specification, the design instruction, the experienceand knowledge and other information in the knowledge informationdatabase, and automatically extract the relevant information from theknowledge information database when the parent knowledge component 600carry out a certain activity.

The timer 690 is configured to send the time message to the messageregistration center 645 on the basis of the time point set by the parentknowledge component 600.

The tool registration center 680 is configured to record information ofthe third party tool connected into the parent knowledge component 600.The information includes the access interface, the data interface, thestarting mechanism of the third party tool.

The plurality of knowledge components 660 is connected to each otherthrough the data flow and the control flow to form a design processmodel.

The execution relation of the design process model in FIG. 6 may includea logical drive, a data drive, a time drive and a message drive.

The logical drive defines logical conditions in the execution of theknowledge components and is established via the transferring line andcontrol logical node of the control interface of the knowledgecomponents. Meeting the logical conditions means all the knowledgecomponents connected with the precursor control interface of theknowledge components have completed operation.

The data drive defines data conditions in the execution of the knowledgecomponents. For example, the knowledge components can not be executeduntil the upstream data changes. The data drive relation is establishedvia a mapping line between the data interface of the knowledgecomponents.

The time drive defines time conditions in the execution of the knowledgecomponents. The present time is determined via the timer and is comparedwith the start time set by the knowledge components, if the start timeis achieved, the time drive conditions is met.

The message drive regulates random events condition in the execution ofthe knowledge components. When a certain random event occurs, themessage of the event is received by the knowledge components via themessage interface thereby meets the message trig condition.

The four drive conditions can be randomly combined, the startingexecution conditions of the knowledge components can be defined and thelogical relation between the conditions, such as ‘and’ and ‘or’ andother logical relations, may be set.

When the parent knowledge component illustrated in FIG. 6 is used, theinternal knowledge components can be regarded as a ‘black box’.Therefore, the internal knowledge components are replaceable by the sametypes of knowledge components without changing the execution relation.In the replacement, if the data interfaces of the internal knowledgecomponents and the replacement of knowledge components are compatible toeach other, the original data relation remains unchanged. Otherwise, thedata relation needs being adjusted.

The knowledge information index 670 of the parent knowledge component600 of FIG. 6 can be associated with a knowledge information in theknowledge database. The knowledge information includes a name, a keyword searching, a specialty, a problem description, a design regulation,a reference experience, a parameters experience value, a principle, andso on. When selecting the knowledge components, the relevant knowledgeinformation can be extracted from the knowledge database via theknowledge information index and is automatically presented to the users,thereby assisting the users to use the knowledge components effectively.

The above discloses the procedures and method for creating the knowledgecomponents utilized in the system of the present invention. Theprocedures and methods of using the knowledge components are as follows.

When designing and analyzing a system, the knowledge components areselected from the knowledge components database to create an example.The knowledge components in the created example are loaded and executedvia an execution engine. The structure of the execution engine 700 isschematically shown FIG. 7, and includes a scheduler 710, a rule engine720 and an actuator 730. The scheduler 710 is adapted for providing theknowledge components for the rule engine 700, i.e., the scheduler 710schedules the running subsequence component of the knowledge componentsin the actuator 730 into the engine 700 in accordance with the defineddata flow, the control flow, and schedules the knowledge componentsmeeting the time conditions and the message trigger conditions into theengine 700, then sends to the rule engine 720 via an arrangement. Therule engine 720 determines whether or not the knowledge component isexecutable. In doing so, the rule engine 720 first obtains thecombination of the logical expression of the data, the control, the timeand the message that decides the start conditions of the knowledgecomponents, and then calculates whether or not the logical expression istrue. If the logical expression is true, the knowledge componentsoperate, otherwise, the knowledge components continue to wait. Theactuator 730 receives the knowledge components from the rule engine 720and calls the corresponding execution method in accordance with thetypes of the knowledge components.

By applying the above process, a variety of links/connections of theknowledge components is completed via repeatedly calling the knowledgecomponents. Meanwhile, the data relation and the execution relationbetween the knowledge components are dynamically established withoutprogramming so as to establish a design process model. In oneembodiment, the design process model is packed into a new knowledgecomponent, and defines data interfaces and human-computer interactiveinterfaces thereof. Accordingly, the design process can be standardized,shared and/or reused.

According to the present invention, the design process model is createddynamically and concurrently with the design process, which is differentfrom the traditional design method that defines first a flow, thenexecutes the flow to finish the design. Therefore, the invented designprocess model is suitable for the flexible and variable design process.Once the design process is completed, the successful design processmodel is saved for re-use in the same types of designs. For example,when encountering the same problem again, the designers can complete thedesign and analysis process in accordance with the scheduled stepsthrough the execution of the process design model. Thus, according thepresent invention, the design efficiency can greatly be improved and thedesign cost can be reduced. Furthermore, the design process isstandardized.

Because the design process model is concurrently created with theprocess of using the knowledge components to design, it represents thedesign process faithfully. Therefore, when design changes need, thedesign changes can be implemented by adding, deleting and/or replacingthe knowledge components of the design process model, or by modifyingthe data relation and the execution relation of the design processmodel, or by modifying the control data of the knowledge components ofthe design process model. The design process redo, thus design changes,is implemented by partially or completely executing the design processmodel.

In the process of using the knowledge components to design, the designprocess model is also used to optimize the design. The control flowrelation and the data flow relation are recorded in the design processmodel. The execution engine automatically drives the knowledgecomponents to automatically execute in accordance with the reasonableorder, thereby constituting the preconditions of optimization. In oneembodiment, the optimization of a design includes the following steps:

Step 1: selecting the input data of the design process model asoptimized design variables.

Step 2: selecting the output data of the design process model as theoptimized design objectives.

Step 3: selecting the output data of the design process model as theoptimized constraint conditions and setting the constraint value range.

Step 4: selecting specific optimized algorithms.

Step 5: obtaining the value of the design variables of the optimizer andassigning the input parameters of the corresponding design process.

Step 6: the execution engine drives the design process to executeautomatically.

Step 7: obtaining the output parameters of the design process, assigningthe design objectives and designing the constraint of the optimizer.

Step 8: determining whether or not the optimization is convergent, ifnot, automatically changing the value of the design variables and goingto step 5.

Step 9: outputting the optimized design scheme.

One aspect of present invention provides a method of an engineeringdesign. In one embodiment, the method includes the step of constructinga plurality of knowledge components in a predefined/standard form. Eachknowledge component comprises one or more universal modules. Eachuniversal module comprises least operations, procedures, rules and flowsof a corresponding engineering design process. In one embodiment, eachuniversal module includes basic operations, such as file parsing,expression operations, command executions, script executions, CADoperations, CAE operations, database operations, report generations andthe like in a corresponding engineering design and analysis process.Referring back to FIG. 2, each knowledge component is constructed tohave a data interface 210 having input and output ports, a controlinterface 220 for defining a logical control relation between theknowledge component and the upstream and downstream knowledge componentsthereof, a human-computer interactive interface 230 for managing datainput and data output through the input and output ports of the datainterface, a message interface 240 for receiving the external messageand information, and a third party tool interface 250 for accessing athird party tool.

The method further comprises the step of defining a data relation and anexecution relation of the plurality of knowledge components so as tocorrelate the plurality of the knowledge components to each other toform a design process model without programming. The execution relationof the plurality of knowledge components comprises logical relations,data driving relations, time characteristics, message triggingmechanisms and any combination thereof. In one embodiment, when definingthe data relation of the plurality of knowledge components, a datamapping relation between the input and output ports of the plurality ofknowledge components is directly defined. When calling the plurality ofknowledge components, the data relation and the execution relation ofthe plurality of knowledge components is automatically established basedon predefined rules. In one embodiment, the design process model isconfigured such that the knowledge components are addable, deletableand/or replaceable, the data relation and the execution relation of theknowledge components is modifiable, and the control data of theknowledge components is modifiable, so that the design process model ispartially or fully executable. Further, the design process model isconfigured such that in operation, the human-computer interactiveinterfaces of the plurality of knowledge components are popped up in apredefined order according to the execution relation of the plurality ofknowledge components so as to lead a designer to complete design andanalysis work. In one embodiment, the data of the design process modelis automatically modifiable in accordance with the predefined rules. Inoperation, modifying the data of the design process model triggers thedesign process model to be partially or fully executed, and themodifying process is repeated until optimized design results areobtained.

Additionally, the method also includes the step of integrating a varietyof software platforms via an uniform environment so as to call theplurality of knowledge components of the design process model to performan engineering design.

Furthermore, the method comprises the step of packing two or moreknowledge components and the data relation and the execution relationthereof into a parent knowledge component without programming. Theknowledge components packed in the parent knowledge component isreplaceable when the parent knowledge component is called in anengineering design and analysis process.

The method may also includes the steps of establishing a database forstoring having instructions, design regulations, design experiences andselected knowledge, and establishing a relationship between theplurality of knowledge components and the database so as toautomatically display the associated knowledge when a knowledgecomponent is used.

Without intent to limit the scope of the invention, additional exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, e.g., a detailed engineering designof a wing box of a plane, is given below.

The structure design of the wing box of the plane includes a pluralityof specialties which needs using a plurality of design, analysis tools,the design process is very complex, the design period is surely bedelayed once problems occurs in a certain link thereby affecting thecompletion of the design task. According to the present invention, thedesign and the analysis of the wing box structure of the plane can berapidly completed via using the knowledge components.

FIG. 8 shows schematically the knowledge components and processes in thedesign and the analysis of the wing box structure of the plane. Thedesign of the wing box structure of the plane is divided into a wing ribdesign, a wing spar design, a stringer design, a skin design, and afinite element analysis of structures, which needs a CAD modeling, a CADparameters read/write, a CAD characteristic elements replacement, asurface modeling, a coordinate transformation and the other designoperations, respectively. The analysis of the wing box structure of theplane needs the finite element calculation of structures, needs ameshing, loading, a material selection, a solving and the other steps.Through different packing methods, these operations and steps are packedinto knowledge components, thereby constitutes the collection of thespecialty knowledge components of the design and the analysis of thewing box structure of the plane.

The design process of the wing box structure of the plane includes twoparts: the structure design and the structure analysis.

The structure design part includes designing and modeling of ten wingribs, two wing spars, ten stringers, four short beams, two skins. Thisneeds to use four classes of two dimension layout knowledge components,four classes of three dimension structure knowledge components toconstruct. The structure design model is dynamically established in theprocess of using the structure design knowledge components to design.

FIGS. 9A-9D are the human-computer interactive interfaces of twodimension arrangement knowledge components. FIG. 9A is thehuman-computer interactive interface of two dimension skin knowledgecomponents. FIG. 9B is the human-computer interactive interface of twodimension wing spar knowledge components. FIG. 9C is the human-computerinteractive interface of two dimension wing rib knowledge components.FIG. 9D is the human-computer interactive interface of two dimensionstringer knowledge components.

FIG. 10 is the structure layout model using the two dimension layoutknowledge components to establish.

FIGS. 11A-11D are the human-computer interactive interfaces of threedimension structure knowledge components. FIG. 11A is the human-computerinteractive interface of three dimension skin knowledge components. FIG.11B is the human-computer interactive interface of three dimension wingspar knowledge components. FIG. 11C is the human-computer interactiveinterface of three dimension wing rib knowledge components. FIG. 11D isthe human-computer interactive interface of three dimension stringerknowledge components.

FIG. 12 is the structural three dimension model established by the threedimension structural knowledge components.

The structure analysis is to analyze and calculate the strength of thewing box through calling the finite element analysis knowledgecomponents on the basis of completing the structure design. The strengthanalysis is a relative fixed process, as shown in FIG. 13, and thus mayreuse the prior strength analysis process model to lead the engineers tocomplete the strength analysis via guidance methods.

FIG. 14 is the strength distribution cloud chart generated by reusingthe prior strength analysis process model to carry out the strengthanalysis of wing box.

The present invention, among other things, recites an engineering designmethod and a system of implementing same. In one embodiment, the methodincludes a construction process of knowledge components and a designprocess based on the knowledge components. The knowledge components packuniversal modules in the predefined or standard forms. Accordingly, theknowledge components are independent from design layouts or designprocesses of products, and usable in different projects, time andplatforms. The design process integrates a variety of software platformsvia an uniform environment and calls the knowledge components tocomplete the engineering designs. Further, the design process defines adata relation and an execution relation of the knowledge components andestablishes a relationship of the knowledge components withoutprogramming. The universal module comprises at least operations,methods/procedures, rules, flows and/or the like of an engineeringdesign process and engineering analysis process. According to thepresent invention, the engineering design process can be dynamicallyoptimized, modified, executed and reused through the integratedapplication of the knowledge components, thereby improving theefficiency of the engineering design.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the inventionhas been presented only for the purposes of illustration and descriptionand is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teaching.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain theprinciples of the invention and their practical application so as toactivate others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and variousembodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art to which the present inventionpertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, thescope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims ratherthan the foregoing description and the exemplary embodiments describedtherein.

1. A method of an engineering design, comprising the steps of: (a)constructing a plurality of knowledge components, wherein each knowledgecomponent comprises one or more universal modules, each universal modulecomprising at least operations, procedures, rules and flows of acorresponding engineering design process; (b) defining a data relationand an execution relation of the plurality of knowledge components so asto correlate the plurality of the knowledge components to each other toform a design process model without programming; and (c) integrating avariety of software platforms via an uniform environment so as to callthe plurality of knowledge components of the design process model toperform an engineering design.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein eachuniversal module comprises basic operations of file parsing, expressionoperations, command executions, script executions, computer-aided design(CAD) operations, computer-aided engineering (CAE) operations, databaseoperations and report generations of the corresponding engineeringdesign process.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein each knowledgecomponent is constructed to have: (a) a data interface having data inputand output ports; (b) a control interface for defining a logical controlrelation between the knowledge component and the upstream and downstreamknowledge components thereof; (c) a human-computer interactive interfacefor managing data input and data output through the data input andoutput ports of the data interface; (d) a message interface forreceiving the external message and information; and (e) a third partytool interface for accessing third party tools.
 4. The method of claim3, wherein when defining the data relation of the plurality of knowledgecomponents, a data mapping relation between the input and output portsof the plurality of knowledge components is directly defined.
 5. Themethod of claim 3, wherein when calling the plurality of knowledgecomponents, the data relation of the plurality of knowledge componentsis automatically established based on predefined rules.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein when calling the plurality of knowledge components, theexecution relation of the plurality of knowledge components isautomatically generated based on the predefined rules.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the execution relation of the plurality of knowledgecomponents comprises logical relations, data driving relations, timecharacteristics, message trigging mechanisms and any combinationthereof.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the design process model isconfigured such that (a) the knowledge components are addable, deletableand/or replaceable; (b) the data relation and the execution relation ofthe knowledge components is modifiable; and (c) the control data of theknowledge components is modifiable, so that the design process model ispartially or fully executable
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein thedesign process model is further configured such that in operation, thehuman-computer interactive interfaces of the plurality of knowledgecomponents are popped up in a predefined order according to theexecution relation of the plurality of knowledge components so as tolead a designer to complete design and analysis work.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the data of the design process model is automaticallymodifiable in accordance with the predefined rules, wherein inoperation, modifying the data of the design process model triggers thedesign process model to be partially or fully executed, and themodifying process is repeated until optimized design results areobtained.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step ofpacking two or more knowledge components and the data relation and theexecution relation thereof into a parent knowledge component withoutprogramming.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the knowledgecomponents packed in the parent knowledge component is replaceable whenthe parent knowledge component is called in an engineering designprocess.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: (a)establishing a database for storing having instructions, designregulations, design experiences and selected knowledge; and (b)establishing a relationship between the plurality of knowledgecomponents and the database so as to automatically display theassociated knowledge when a knowledge component is used.
 14. A system ofan engineering design, comprising: (a) a knowledge packing module forconstructing a plurality of knowledge components in a predefined form,wherein each knowledge component comprises one or more universalmodules, each universal module comprising at least operations,procedures, rules and flows of a corresponding engineering designprocess; (b) a human-computer interface module for defining ahuman-computer interactive interface for each knowledge componentthrough which a user is able to control internal processes of theknowledge component; (c) a data definition module for defining datainput and output ports for each knowledge component; (d) a data mappingdefinition module for defining a data mapping relation between the datainput and output ports of the plurality of knowledge components; (e) aflow definition module for defining a control logical relation foroperations, procedures, rules and flows of each knowledge component; (f)an execution and monitoring module for calling the plurality ofknowledge components to perform an engineering design and monitoring thestatus of the engineering design; and (g) a third party tool integrationmodule for integrating third party tools at least with the execution andmonitoring module to call the third party tools when performing theengineering design.
 15. The system of claim 14, further comprising: (a)a knowledge component database for storing the plurality of knowledgecomponents; and (b) a knowledge information database for storinginstructions, design specifications and design experiences associatedwith the plurality of knowledge components.
 16. The system of claim 14,wherein each universal module comprises basic operations of fileparsing, expression operations, command executions, script executions,computer-aided design (CAD) operations, computer-aided engineering (CAE)operations, database operations and report generations of thecorresponding engineering design process.
 17. The system of claim 16,wherein each knowledge component is constructed to have: (a) a datainterface having data input and output ports; (b) a control interfacefor defining a logical control relation between the knowledge componentand the upstream and downstream knowledge components thereof; (c) ahuman-computer interactive interface for managing data input and dataoutput through the data input and output ports of the data interface;(d) a message interface for receiving external messages and information;and (e) a third party tool interface for accessing third party tools.